This week has been quite musical for me! On Tuesday, April 29th, my school held a talent show which was in support of Free The Children and Winnipeg Harvest ,which is a non-profit organization with the goal of distributing food to the hungry.  They offer training opportunities to help people step out of poverty.

The event was a success! We had a full house and we raised about $15,000, which I think is still pretty good for a high school show. There were quite a few good acts ranging from comedy to music. I chose to take the stage to sing All Too Well by one of my favorite artists Taylor Swift.  Based on the reaction I got, I’d say the crowd liked it!

Performing is one of my favorite things to do. Whether it’s playing a guitar recital or a school talent show or at church with the band, whatever the case may be I always feel at home onstage. Even though I get insanely nervous before going on, when I’m actually doing it, I’ve never felt more relaxed.

The music program at the school I go to offers an extra-curricular activity called Chamber Choir. It is an auditioned group made up of about 14 girls, myself included, meeting twice a week. We’ve been working on a song called This Is Me for the last few months, and we had absolutely no idea what it could be about until my choir director, Mrs. Ens, told us that Poet Shamin Brown was coming in to talk to us the next class. That same day Mrs. Ens had told us a little bit of a background of the song, which I will tell you now.

Shamin is a survivor of human trafficking. When she was a sophomore in high school, she kept a straight A average with a passion for sports. By the next year, all that changed. Shamin became a crack addict, and the drugs took over her life. She began selling herself on the streets just to feed her addictions. Shamin has written a book called I’m An Addict which tells her story in shocking detail. When I went up to buy her book, I told her about this website, and what it’s all about and she took the liberty of writing this in my copy:

Jackie, I pray that God uses your blog to set the captives free. Remember, don’t judge – LOVE. Love heals all.

If you meet and talk to her on the street, you never would’ve guessed that she was once a sex worker. She’s so full of life and charisma, that when you hear her story for yourself, you’d never be able to tell. When she told us the meaning behind This Is Me, it completely changed our perspective on what it was that we were singing.

On Wednesday, April 30th, our chamber choir was invited to sing at what was not only her book launch, but also the song premier (which I didn’t realize)! Before we sung, the composer Timothy Corlis stopped to talk to all of the choir girls thanking us for singing his song. During, he was visibly impressed. I caught him tearing up a little, so I took that as a good sign! After he came around to each of us saying how impressed he was. That same night we sung another song called You Are More, which I played guitar for, as well as sung a solo! Both songs we were asked to sing had Shamin tearing up, which is incredibly flattering because that shows that the music had touched that person’s heart.

To bring my musical week to an incredible end, I was given the chance to get into a professional recording studio to talk to a music producer named Jason about writing and potentially recording my first album!! During that chat, Jason had me play one of my songs for him, and he told me to come back to the studio in like a week or two to begin writing and recording. This is a huge deal for me because for as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamt about being a singer and this could be my chance! I’ve taken his advice to heart and I’ve been writing and writing all weekend, and I can see that my songs are improving. I just hope he thinks so, too. As of right now, the song I’m most proud of is called Fresh Start. I wrote that song about my mother and how I only want to make her proud, but it’s time for me to follow my heart regardless of what she has to say. It’s about how I’m growing up and how it’s time for me to spread my wings and fly.

~Jackie